On Sunday, the last in Lent, we went to Mass at the small upstairs chapel at Osgodby, built in 1793. I was reading a passage in the parish newssheet from our resident local hermit, Rachel Denton. Something she wrote struck me. That religion is not something that you do but what it does to you, how it changes you. It changes you. It can but doesn’t have to be active. Later that night, I was half dreaming that I needed to do something, perhaps write this every day, then almost like a sharp pain, I knew that I didn’t, that the parish newssheet was right. What mattered is not what you do but what happens to you.

In the reading of the last week of Lent for Monday, Jesus goes to have supper with Lazarus. He just happens to have raised him from the dead but the Jews, fearing the commotion, resolve to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. I have always wondered about this. What happens to him? Is he bumped off soon? Isn’t that rather sad that his second time on earth is so short? Isn’t it all rather unfair? The ups and downs of life.

Tuesday had started well. A cheque arrived from the taxman for a thousand pounds – a rebate. And then on the way to Mass in the evening my accountant texted me to say, mistake, tear up the cheque, I owe them £5,000. I was depressed, the Mass was already over but the Rosary was going on. As I stared up at the image of the Virgin Mary, I thought “Oh well, what does it matter”. I probably owe them the money anyway, if they waste it, and there are more important things like my daughter’s successful small operation that day!

“Better teach the people something good for the future than resign oneself to work institutions already in existence.” – John Bright

Wednesday is really for me the last day of Lent because tomorrow we leave for the Abbey and Easter triduum. The last reading tells us of Jesus instructing his disciples to arrange the Passover supper in “so-and-so’s house”. I have always wondered who is “so-and-so”. He’s obviously missed out on an opportunity to be world-famous. But of course So-and-So is not named because he is all of us. Jesus is coming to have supper with us and tomorrow we will start our journey with him. Let’s have a lovely Easter.